Garden Design & Home Landscaping: How To Plan and Create Your Ideal Garden

A successful garden is more than a collection of attractive features: paths, planting, patios, and levels all shape how the space works together. Garden Design & Home Landscaping by Milton Harmon focuses on planning that whole picture, with ideas for home gardens of different sizes and shapes and particular attention to making small spaces feel considered and usable.

Start with a plan, not a pile of projects

The book opens with the decisions that influence a garden project: what you want to change, how much time you can give the work, and whether to design it yourself, hire a professional, or combine the two. Its central message is practical: even if improvements happen in stages, a shared plan helps each new element fit the garden as a whole.

Make a smaller garden work harder

Small gardens receive special attention. The contents cover planting proportions, attracting wildlife, edible planting, visual tricks for adjusting the sense of scale, and changes in level. Rather than treating limited space as a drawback, the book considers how layout and thoughtful use of the available area can make a compact garden feel more engaging.

Ideas for different shapes and makeovers

Garden layouts are considered by shape, including long and narrow, wide, square, awkward or L-shaped gardens, as well as small front gardens. There is also material on redesigning an existing garden and on choosing a starting point for a new design—useful perspectives when the space you have does not match a neat, standard plan.

Add character through materials and features

Later chapters turn to visual interest: combining materials, using paving patterns, and creating a feature area. These topics sit within the broader planning approach, helping readers think about how individual choices contribute to the overall look and organization of the garden.

DIY, professional help, or a mix?

Alongside DIY planning, the book discusses finding people to build a garden and working with landscape professionals. That range makes it relevant to readers at different stages—from those exploring ideas independently to homeowners preparing to bring in outside expertise.

For anyone weighing up a garden redesign, Harmon’s book offers a broad introduction to planning layouts, adapting ideas to different spaces, and keeping the finished garden in view from the start.